Instructional Staff

Contents

Overview of Responsibilities

YYGS provides a unique opportunity for Instructors (undergraduate students) and Lead Instructors (graduate students) to teach talented high school students from around the world in the intimate context of small seminars, breakout sessions, and intense session-long capstone projects. Instructional staff also help facilitate campus and lab visits as well as academic simulations. They also play a crucial role in residential life programming, getting to know students both in and out of the classroom, by mentoring a small group of participants (YYGS “Families”) and supervising events throughout the session. In YYGS, instructional staff obtain significant real-world experience in the development of curriculum, classroom management, and student mentorship.

Curriculum Development

Instructors and Lead Instructors in YYGS are responsible for developing unique seminars on their choice of academic topics. Beginning in the early spring, all YYGS instructional staff submit a proposal of their intended seminars. The YYGS leadership team selects and approves seminars, considering the balance of all seminar proposals. Upon approval, all instructional staff develop assigned readings, discussion questions, and all other aspects of their seminars. The key to successful seminars is substantial planning in the months preceding the session. All instructional staff are encouraged to be creative in designing engaging, hands-on seminars that challenge their students. YYGS will provide modest financial support for the development of classroom innovations.

 Click here for more information on Seminars.

Academic Responsibilities

There are several academic components that Instructors and Lead Instructors are responsible for (click each link for more information):

1) Seminars: All instructional staff develop and teach seminars that cover a range of topics and allow students and instructors alike to explore their passions.

2) Breakout Sessions: YYGS features lectures by renowned Yale faculty and leading practitioners in fields ranging from philosophy and economics to neuroscience and conservational biology. All instructional staff lead breakout sessions to talk about these lectures in further detail.

3) Capstone Projects: All instructional staff supervise and mentor students in session-long group research projects. A curriculum guide containing individual assignments will be provided. Assignments are designed to develop critical thinking skills and encourage innovation. The project culminates in an oral presentation at the end of the two-week session.

4) Simulations: All social science and STEM sessions will feature Simulations (large role-playing scenarios) designed by the YYGS Simulation Managers. Before the start of the summer, they will provide Instructor and Student handbooks that detail your role in these scenarios.

5) Invited Speakers and Lab Visits: In the STEM sessions, we will be inviting speakers (graduate students, postdocs, research scientists, etc.) to give engaging ~5-8 minute talks on their research at Yale, followed a few days later by a visit to their laboratory. Students will give preferences for labs that they are interested in visiting. Instructional staff are responsible for bringing them to and from the locations and supervising them during the visit. In the case of lab visits, a tour guide at the site will be responsible for the content of the visit.

Residential Life Responsibilities

YYGS instructional staff will be assigned to a small group of mentees (YYGS Families) and will conduct informal activities to facilitate student connections. Instructional staff will also help supervise non-academic events and tours. All staff members will help with student check-in and check-out at the start and end of each session. Additionally, staff members who are living on-campus will be asked to assist with free time supervision and suite-checks to ensure all students are accounted for at the end of each day.

Optionally, Instructors and Lead Instructors may also host special meals for students to discuss academics, career planning, or any other topic of interest.

Other Responsibilities

All staff members are the face of YYGS and as such are held to the highest standards of responsibility and integrity. YYGS instructors are expected to be an active presence in the residential college and should react to any emergent situations to ensure student comfort and security. Given the nature of our program, other responsibilities may arise periodically and will be delegated to staff members as necessary.

Arrival Information

Instructional Staff Check-In

There are set check-in times for instructional staff. For the purposes of this next section, “residential instructional staff” refers to any instructional staff member who is taking housing in the residential colleges. “Commuter instructional staff” refers to instructional staff who will not be living in the residential colleges.

Residential Instructional Staff Check-in:

(1) 1:00-10:00PM the day prior to instructional staff orientation,

OR

(2) 7:30-8:30AM the first day of orientation.

If staff are returning for their 2nd or 3rd session this summer, they can check back in:

(1) Late evening until 10PM on the first day of instructional staff orientation,

OR

(2) 7:30-8:30AM the second day of instructional staff orientation.

Commuter Instructional Staff Check-In:

8:30-9:30AM the first day of instructional staff orientation

If staff are returning for their 2nd or 3rd session this summer, they check back in:

8:30-9:30AM the second day of instructional staff orientation.

Instructional Staff Summer Orientation

There is a mandatory orientation before each session. Orientation is 2 days for the first session instructional staff teach, regardless of previous YYGS experience.

After teaching a session in 2019 (this summer), instructional staff are required to attend the 2nd day of orientation for any subsequent sessions they teach this summer.

Printing Policy

SUPPLIES AND HANDOUTS: We strongly encourage using electronic resources in your classrooms to be as sustainable as possible; however, if you need certain materials printed, we will print them for you. Please note that printed handouts may not exceed two (2) pages per student per seminar, and must be in PDF format. Please email them to join.yygs@yale.edu at least 24 hours before your session’s orientation with the quantity needed. If you have any last-minute printing requests during the session, please email them to join.yygs@yale.edu , specifying the day and activity, with at least 48-hour lead time so we can process the request.